


Oh Christmas Lights, Keep Shining On

by KING0FNEWY0RK



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christmas fic, F/F, Tags will be updated, Yaz is sad, but just a while, but not for too long, does that make sense, elf on a shelf au ???, please tell me it does, rating will stay the same tho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:47:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27823243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KING0FNEWY0RK/pseuds/KING0FNEWY0RK
Summary: It had been 274 days, 14 hours, 32 minutes and 13 seconds since Yasmin Khan had last seen The Doctor. Her doctor. Since she had been dropped off on some back estate only a short walk from her parents’ flat with no such thing as a goodbye from the woman who fell to Earth. And, with the festive season fast approaching, she is starting to feel a bit less certain about her life without The Doctor. Will a special Christmas surprise make her feel any better?
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin Khan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	1. December 1st

**Author's Note:**

> hello ! i haven't written all lockdown pretty much so i hope this is somewhat up to my usual standard! i got really invested in this idea when i had it and then once i finished chapter one i forgot about it so the next few chapters will b very rushed :D sorry !! but i hope u all enjoy it nonetheless

It had been 274 days, 14 hours, 32 minutes and 13 seconds since Yasmin Khan had last seen The Doctor. Her doctor. Since she had been dropped off on some back estate only a short walk from her parents’ flat with no such thing as a goodbye from the woman who fell to earth. And over those 274 days, 14 hours, 32 minutes and 13 seconds, Yaz had grown frustrated by the reminders of the enigmatic blonde; the spot that the TARDIS had parked in tormenting her every day with its cold emptiness - the rain-painted square silhouette she’d grown so fond of had been washed away by the autumn months and the subsequent winter weeks, the sofa in the front room she remembers The Doctor being  _ so  _ excited about, her dad’s terrible pakora that The Doctor had praised till the skies went dark. It was safe to say that home just didn’t feel like home anymore. So 122 days, 2 hours, 4 minutes and 53 seconds ago, on August 1st, Yasmin Khan used her key to open the front door for her very own flat for the first time. 

Despite the flat being quite isolated to start with, she had soon filled it with more positive reminders of her friend. A purple sofa, glow in the dark stars, a kitchen painted in a familiar shade of orange that almost seemed to glow with life when the sun set through the window in the evenings. Ryan and Graham had helped with most of the moving, giving her a friendly nudge with their elbows followed by a knowing smile whenever Yaz went on a ramble about the specifics of her choices. 

So now, on December 1st, Yaz finds herself staring at the ceiling in her bedroom, her grey duvet pulled up as high as she can get them, as she passes time listening to the ticking of the clock on her bedside table. Eventually, she braves the cold and slips into leggings and a baggy hoodie, pulling on the fluffiest pair of socks she can find before grabbing her phone and trudging to the kitchen to make her first cup of tea of the day. It was rare that she got a day off at the moment, with all the parties and the festivities going on, work was always busy with calls and extra shifts to distract her wandering mind. Whilst waiting for the kettle to boil, she pulls up spotify on her phone, figuring she may as well stay in the festive spirit despite not being in work. She hits play on the most bearable christmas playlist she can find, places her phone down on the counter and gets herself stuck into making breakfast. 

Yaz isn’t really sure how much time has passed, maybe one or two songs, as she tucks her feet up under her legs on the purple sofa, one hand reaching to put her empty mug on the coffee table in front of her, the other stroking it’s thumb over the soft fabric under her legs. A slow piano track starts on her phone, and she can’t help but close her eyes as the lyrics sink in. 

_ Christmas night, _

_ Another fight, _

_ Tears we cried, _

_ A flood _

_ Got all kinds of poison in, of poison in my blood _

_ I took my feet _

_ To Oxford Street, _

_ Trying to right a wrong _

_ "Just walk away," those windows say, but I can't believe she's gone. _

Yaz smiles to herself, what an appropriate song, she thinks as she opens her eyes to blink away the moisture building behind closed lids. As her pupils dart around the room, they fall on an unfamiliar object in a  _ very  _ familiar shade of blue. Eyebrows knitting together, Yaz pushes herself up off the seat and pads gently across the floor, reaching her fingers out to retrieve the object from where it’s hiding. Her face softens at the sight of a dark blue stocking embroidered with stars and swirls is hues of a silvery blue, she runs the pad of her index finger over the designs, feeling a lump inside and immediately shuffling back to the sofa to sit down and inspect it properly. After carefully removing the lump, she fiddles with the tissue paper, not wanting to rip such a delicately wrapped gift, pulling the tape with careful nudges and more patience than she thought she was capable of. 

When the tape had been removed, she unrolled the overlapping tissue until a small doll fell onto her lap, light yellow cotton splaying out as a cartoonish version of The Doctor’s signature grin shines back at her, complete with long grey coat, blue shirt with a faded rainbow across the chest, yellow braces, cropped trousers and brown boots masking striped socks. Yaz choked back a sob as she held the doll in her hands, drawing it to her chest in an embrace that she had been saving for The Doctor since she had left them in the TARDIS on Gallifrey.

Unlocking her phone, she snaps a quick picture of the doll and it’s stocking and sends it to the fam group chat, typing out a quick message of “do we know her?” as a caption, laughing as three dots appear instantly, alerting her that Graham was typing a message. “Doc in a sock?” comes the reply. Ryan sends an eyeroll emoji in response to Graham, and tells Yaz that  _ they got the hair wrong, there’s not enough brown.  _

Yaz smiles, placing the doll on her coffee table as she finally decides to go about her day - brave the December chill and get the groceries she’d been putting off for days, bake some brownies with the brownie mix she’d failed to talk herself out of buying, stare at the doll for a solid 10 minutes, tell the doll about all the things she’s missed, buy a book, buy a bookmark (again - why does she always lose them?), make some dinner, eat some dinner, wash the pots, get changed, and so on and so on. 

Eventually, Yaz finds herself laying on her back under warm covers, her eyelids drooping as the ceiling fades and her mind travels to The Doctor.


	2. December 2nd

Yaz is staring at the kitchen table. She has been for a few minutes, her stare occasionally interrupted by glances at the coffee table she can see over the counter before her eyes return to the little doll that has managed to move to the kitchen and is now sitting with a grin on the table. 

The Doctor is sitting cross-legged on a crumb covered plate, an empty packet of custard creams lies crinkled nearby, along with a note tucked under the plate, messy handwriting scrawled onto creased paper complete with overlapping dusty footprints. 

_ “Hiya Yaz! Sorry I ate all your biscuits - i’ve been really hungry lately… hope the tardis dropped you and the fam off safely… i think that model is more reliable when it comes to navigation :D sorry, rambling again - but yeah, the biscuits were very nice but maybe invest in a lock for that cupboard if you want to keep any future biscuits safe” _

Yaz turns her music off, taking a picture of the table and sending it to the group chat, a few question marks as a follow up caption, before grabbing herself an apple and some instant porridge and heading out of the house for work.

On her first break, she gets the chance to check her phone, having missed a few messages from Ryan and Graham on her shift, she is glad to see that they’re both enjoying the Doctor’s festive adventures, both of them failing to admit to being the puppeteer behind the doll’s mischief. 

The rest of Yaz’s shift seems to drag along slowly, the urgency and outcomes of any calls she responds to making her feel as though she was back on probation settling parking disputes all over again.

Yaz decides to eat her tea in the kitchen today, rather than with a tray on her lap. She sets her plate down next to the doll, deciding that this year would be no different than the last, and that eating with The Doctor would just have to be slightly different this year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next few days will probably be really short because im struggling for time this week and havent even started chapter 3 yet omg,,, anyway comments and kudos much appreciated :D


	3. December 3rd

_“Yaz, have you left yet?”_

“No, sorry I can’t find her…”

_“You what?”_

_“_ I can’t find her, Ry. _”_

“ _Her?_ ”

“The Doctor.”

_“Yaz, she’s been gone since March, I thought we’d spoken about this…”_

“No! I mean the doll, the one that’s been hiding in my flat.”

_“Ohhh , right! Where was she yesterday?”_

“She were on the kitchen table, crunch creams and a plate, remember?”

_“Oh yeah, maybe you could try-”_

“It’s fine, I’ll look for her later, she must be hiding really well today. Let me just get my coffee and I’ll leave ASAP.” 

“ _Okay, see you soon.”_

“Bye, Ry!”

Yaz hangs up the phone, hitting the off switch as she gently drops it onto the counter, pulling a travel mug out of the top cupboard and pushing it under the coffee machine. She grabs a pod from the rack and pushes the corresponding buttons to put together her mocha. She pulls on the fridge door, scanning the shelves for a quick bite to eat until her eyes fall on a mess of blonde hair hiding behind the milk bottle. 

Rolling her eyes, she pulls at the little doll’s arm until it unwraps from the handle, taking her out of the fridge and twisting her round in her palm. A piece of paper is sticking out of her coat pocket and Yaz smiles, unfolding the note and scanning here eyes over the writing, fingers running over the heavy footprints and scratches of dirt on the note. 

_“Hi again Yaz - what took you so long to find me? I’ve been waiting in here for ages, it’s freezing! I’m not mad at you though, just very cold (imagine me shivering A LOT) !!!_

_Anyway I hope you’re well and these little surprises are actually working and getting to the right places, be a bit awkward if i were in the oven after all this, wouldn’t it?”_

She closes the door, forgoing the snack in favour of warming the doctor up. She grabs a blanket from the drawer in her bedroom and tucks the doll in under a bundle of the soft cloth, placing her down on the sofa and giving her a pat on the head. She sends a picture to Ryan, confirming her departure as she pulls on her coat and grabs her coffee. 

-

-

-

“So she was in the fridge?”

“Yeah, she was behind the milk and she had a note saying that she was cold so now she's wrapped up in a blanket on the sofa and-”

“Sorry, you wrapped it in a blanket?”

“Yes she said she was cold, why wouldn’t I warm her up?”

“It’s a doll, mate” Ryan gives her a playful punch on the arm, narrowly avoiding the shoulder barge that came his way as a result.

“Yeah but it’s nice to pretend it’s actually her, I wouldn’t put it past her to get herself locked in a fridge if I’m being candid”

The pair laugh at the almost disappointing truth behind Yaz’s claim. Window shopping had become a weird part of their weekly routine, and they found that they were enjoying the cold of the weekends a lot more than they expected, with the added company and the icy pavements causing the occasional slip and giggle. 

So, after hours of walking and the realisation that they could no longer feel the toes at the end of their ice cold feet, the two bid each other goodbye and returned to their respective houses, complete with the odd shopping bag and another empty coffee cup in hand.

As the sun kissed the horizon, Yaz could be found curled up under a blanket on the purple sofa, Doctor in her lap and a hot cup in her hand, as her eyes grow heavy to the Toy Story 2 credits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry ive been gone for so long - ive been covering a lot of shifts at work, im gonna do my best to catch up and fire out the chapters ive missed as soon as ive got them written!

**Author's Note:**

> ahhh !! i hope that met your expectations :D my twitter handle has changed since my last fic so i can now be found on @KLNG0FNEWY0RK !!! follow me for christmas chaos and such (and if you have any ideas for lil miss doc in a soc then let me know)


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